London: Britain's Andy Murray hopes to return to the singles court before the end of the year, but thinks he is unlikely to be ready in time for August's US Open.

The former world number one, who had his hip resurfaced in January, is due to play doubles at Queen's Club next week. Murray will partner Feliciano Lopez at the Fever-Tree Championships in London. But the 32-year-old says he still has "quite a lot of work to do" before he can be competitive in singles again.

"It's baby steps just now," Murray said.

Murray has not played competitively since losing to Roberto Bautista Agutin the first round of January's Australian Open. No player has ever resumed a singles career after the operation Murray had although American doubles player Bob Bryan returned five months after the surgery in 2018, the BBC sports news reported.